Permit me to freak out...... AAH!

Yesterday I was very upset by some news......

Walden Media Pulls Out of Narnia

Bear with me as I tell my tale.

I first saw it on Facebook on friends' news feeds...

the future of Narnia is in the balance.

WALDEN MEDIA JUST PULLED OUT OF THE NARNIA FRANCHISE. MY LIFE IS OVER

So Walden Media just pulled out of the Narnia franchise. For those of you that don't understand what this means, it's like if Warner Brothers dropped out of the Harry Potter movies. Yes, it's kind of a big deal.

After I told my friend that Walden dropped out of the Narnia franchise, he sent an e-mail to Walden Media. "Hello, Would you sell me the Narnia franchise? ...Thanks!"

my first thought:

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!?!

I checked with my co-workers at Aslan's Country. They were all freaking out like me. By the time I found out about it yesterday, the news was pretty old, and there was an update that the report wasn't true. It was still very unsure, with nothing settled.

I was freaking out anyway. I hate reading comments on NarniaWeb because half of the people say such horrible things that I totally don't agree with, and I'd love to just give them a talking to! For example, the first comment on the NarniaWeb story is,

Not a surprise really. Great efforts, Walden Media! But I agree it is just not meant to be right now.

AAAAAAAA! What are you thinking? Narnia has a huge fanbase, and the last movie made over 400 million! You can't stop now! You have to make the whole series!

My hope that I always held on to when talking about the future of the Narnia franchise, was that Walden Media wants to make all seven. Perry Moore was quoted as wanting to produce all seven. But then he died. I thought they would make at least one more, in honor of him! And I still held on to my opinion that Walden wanted to produce the whole series! My belief has never wavered.

Until now. Now it is shattered.

People are not surprised at all that Walden would drop Narnia. Even the slight possibility of that makes me upset!

I am content that the rumor has been contradicted by the officials at Walden Media. Our admin contacted Walden and got an official statement, which you can see in our story. This makes me happy. But why did they have to go and scare us like that? NarniaWeb didn't cite their source, and it's not April Fools Day. Who came up with this rumor? We may never know. Maybe it does have grounds. I'm not sure. I'm just glad that it has been refuted for now.

I like the story below because we're the good guys. :) No offense to NarniaWeb, I'm just proud of Aslan's Country.

http://live.hollywoodjesus.com/?p=8101
Walden Out Of Narnia? ...Not So Fast

Narnia News Blog Update

Mark Sommer | 06/22/11 | News, Blogs, Narnia News

Early this morning, NarniaWeb.com reported that a source “close to the production” told them that Walden Media has pulled out of the Narnia franchise. As of this writing, they had been unable to confirm this.

However, AslansCountry.com was able to reach a Walden Media representative, who confirmed “Walden has not pulled out of the franchise. Walden and Fox and the Lewis Estate are continuing in their discussions about the next Narnia film.”

In conclusion, I am extremely glad the danger has passed, at least for now. We have still not heard the "yes" or "no" on the next film, but I hope there will be another one. Right now they're still at the stage they have been for months: negotiating about doing another film. I had a lot of emotions running through me when I heard the news, and I had to write a blog post! Thanks for reading!

Happy Birthday, Aslan's Country!

Today is a special day in the life of Aslan's Country.com! Exactly two years ago, Matthew (and friends) launched the site, which would soon become the third largest Narnia News Blog/Website in the world.

To the right is the "Coming Soon" page... I wasn't around then, but I do remember reading AC posts years ago... especially about the new Narnia film coming out and seeing pictures of the "Dawn Treader" being built! It was very exciting for me.

June 2010 (one year ago) the site looked like this:


This was about when I met Hannah Dokupil and we started talking. I wasn't on the team until October of last year. Things I remember in my experience with AC:

Writing my first couple posts about Carrie Underwood and Joe McElderry's song "There's a Place for Us." with the help of AslansLily.
Reporting more and more about contests, promotional events, prescreenings and movie clips!
Spending the whole of November 30 online with Hannah and AslansLily trying to snap pictures of stars from a lousy webcam during the red-carpet portion of the World Premiere in London!

Controversy, controversy! All Narnia fans will think differently on something... here's the post that took the longest for me to write, about the reactions to Liam Neeson's quote about Aslan.

Making a "Narnia Christmas Tribute" scrapbook for the cast and crew.

Reviews piled in, then award nominations!

Watching the Box Office Tracker slowly cross 400 million!

My Dad told me first thing in the morning one day that Perry Moore, the excecutive producer of the first three Narnia films, had died. I wrote this post about him.

We heard bittersweet news that Magician's Nephew would be made next. Here are my responses to this. We are still waiting for more news on that.

I posted my movie review after seeing it the day it came out.

I posted my "double dvd pack" review after buying it the day it came out.

Our April Fools day fun! We had the funniest story and the most serious story (which everyone believed!!)

Getting Turkish Delight at Christmas and Film Cells at Easter... :)

And just fun chats and conversations on Facebook with the AC staff! You know who you are.... :D

Our site today:

Here's our current stats on social media sites. Be a fan if you are on any of them! :)

Aslan's Country Fans on Facebook: 6,313
Aslan's Country Followers on Twitter: 2308
Aslan's Country Subscribers on YouTube: 172

And don't forget to follow Aslan's Country.com if you have a Blogger account!

Why is Aslan's Country special? This is taken from our website:

Why Aslan’s Country?
In C.S. Lewis’ book The Last Battle, the children travel to Aslan’s Country. While we don’t claim to be the real Aslan’s Country, we do hope you find it to be a place where you will not only find the latest Narnia news, but also where you will feel welcomed and enjoy yourself.
Our Mission Statement:
Our goal as Aslan’s Country is to provide current and accurate Narnia news; to unite Narnia fans in a common, safe, and enjoyable environment; to provide communication, dedication, and the willingness to work with others; and ultimately to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Our Commitment to an Ad-Free Website, and What It Means for Us Financially
As you browse the site, you’ll notice that we aren’t supported financially by advertisements. We believe that by not placing ads on our site, we improve our design and layout and make it easier to find the content you want and not make it distracting. However, this also means that we do not have a steady flow of income to pay the bills to keep Aslan’s Country online and serving you. If you feel led to, we would be so grateful to receive a donation from you—a way of saying “thank you” to the unpaid staff at Aslan’s Country. If you would like to make a donation, please email matthew@aslanscountry.com. Thank you so much for supporting the ongoing efforts at Aslan’s Country!

Magician's Nephew?!?!

I have two stories to share with you today. First, Perry Moore, the Executive Producer of Walden Media and for all three Narnia Films, died suddenly two days ago. Dad told me, and I ran to check it out online. I posted this about him on Aslan's Country:

Perry Moore, the executive producer at Walden Media and of the three Narnia movies died yesterday at age 39. He was found dead in his apartment in New York, probably due to an overdose of OxyContin. You can read more here.

His site, PerryMooreStories.com, says this about his involvement in Narnia:

Perry Moore is a best-selling author, film producer, screenwriter, and director, best known as the executive producer of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

A longtime production executive for Walden Media, Moore was instrumental in bringing The Chronicles of Narnia series to the company. After landing the rights to the C. S. Lewis series, he moved into a production deal with the company. The film represents his first as a motion picture executive producer.

In addition to his work in production and development, The CS Lewis Company appointed Moore to write The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion, a New York Times Bestseller.

I have read the LWW Movie Companion. It is one of my favorite books! I’d encourage you to read it also. Perry Moore did a great job.

He continues his role as executive producer of Prince Caspian, due to be released in 2008, and will continue with the third in the Narnia franchise, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. He is such a rabid fan of the Chronicles of Narnia, he hopes to see all seven books in the series adapted into films.

Perry Moore was instrumental in bringing the Narnia books to film, and he hoped to see all seven made. I pray they will all be made, in honor of him. Thanks, Perry, for all you did to make Narnia come to life.

Now the question is... What will happen to the Narnia series? Surely, as I reported recently, talks of greenlighting Silver Chair were happening. Now will they be put on hold? I always held on to the hope that Walden Media wanted to make the whole series, because they continued even when Disney dropped out. Was Perry the only person at Walden that wanted to do all seven? Maybe this is the end. More likely, they will make another Narnia film dedicated to him. Mark Johnson, the Producer of all three films, was reported as wanting to make Silver Chair next. Liam Neeson said he wanted to see all seven films made.

We just waited for a day... then this showed up in our news feed:

"Magician's Nephew Greenlit?"


Why? Here's what started the whole thing: an article from wtkr.com about Perry Moore's death which talks about his last conversation with his mother.

Moore's death came as he was poised for even greater successes, his family said.

"The night before he died, he had an hour-long conversation with his mom," father Bill Moore said as he waited at the airport for a flight to New York. "He had gotten all the good news he could possibly get."

Perry Moore told his family he'd secured financing for another Narnia movie, "The Magician's Nephew." He was also working with Starz, a cable-movie company, to adapt his novel, "Hero," and he was preparing to meet with actress Julianne Moore on another project.

"He had everything in the world going for him," his father said. "He was very upbeat."

Magician's Nephew????

I'll give you three good reasons why they should make The Silver Chair first. Then three comforting thoughts.

1. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader leads up to The Silver Chair so well! (In my VDT review, I list some of the ways: The green mist, the reference to Jill Pole, etc.) I think the producers were expecting SC would come next.
   
2. If they do Magician's Nephew now, when they do Silver Chair, Will Poulter (our Eustace) will be too old! He's already pushing the age he's supposed to be in SC. And they cannot recast Eustace. Will Poulter is perfect, and he deserves to play Eustace Scrubb in The Silver Chair! Tilda Swinton (our Jadis) was quoted as saying she really wanted to do Magician's Nephew next. (Of course! She's a main character, and she's not in SC. Maybe that would be good though. Get Jadis over with, and do the last three books without her.) But Will is growing up! Tilda Swinton can wait. Will Poulter can't.
3. The story continuity keeps going if SC is next. It has the same characters (Eustace, Caspian, Trumpkin, Liliandil) and starts where VDT left off! It is the logical one, story-wise, to do next.

Comforting thoughts:

1. Magician's Nephew may be more popular than Silver Chair. Would people rather see a sequel to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader or a prequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? It's the book that tells how Narnia began. How the Lion created Narnia, how the Witch got to Narnia, and how the Wardrobe got in the Spareoom. It will be a great movie! (like Silver Chair, Horse and His Boy, and the Last Battle...)
   
2. Perry Moore's mother may have messed up. Maybe he really meant Silver Chair? Ok it sounds far-stretched, but wouldn't it be funny if all of this fuss was for nothing? Over a typo?
   
3. They're almost definitely going to continue the series!! We want to see all seven made, and if Magician's Nephew is greenlit, that will be the fourth out of seven. I think if they get one more made, they will make them all. No more worry about the next film being greenlit.

And we wait. I'll let you know when anything is announced officially. :)

Images: Aslan's Country, RJ.